ONLINE STORESKogan.com.au (I once received a damaged product in the mail from them)

LAW FIRMSLogie Law (firm defending the insurance company that refused to accept liability and forced us to sue them despite the prima facie evidence being against them. Ultimately we won after much hassle)

GYM AND FITNESSFitness First (stay away from their personal trainers. If you must use a trainer, insist on paying cash for each session, don't sign up to an automatic direct debit as they'll try to overcharge you)

They delete your accumulated points each year and you have to start from scatch:

Hi Sukrit, Thank you for your reply.Your points are reset each year on your anniversary date - July 15th. This cycle, we only have one visit recorded for Wolverine on July 26th. Please note that you can only begin earning rewards once your new card is active and linked to your account. If you were scanning your card without first linking it to your account, these visits are not recorded.

I had previously been to Café Trevi with friends, and thought it was a nice, quaint restaurant located on Lygon Street where service was delivered with a smile. But it was only the second time I went, alone and without friends, that I had the mental attention span to truly savour the experience in a distraction-free environment.

The moment I entered the restaurant, I was greeted by a pleasant looking woman and cordially directed to my seat. At my seat, I began browsing the menu, and found a wide selection of food and drink choices.

From appetizers such as nachos, to pastas, pizza, risottos and seafood, the menu seemed to have it all.

On this particular day I was very hungry, so I selected an entree lasagna and a main woodfire vegetarian pizza, along with some water. Of the items I selected, I can confidently state that not one of them was sub-par, and indeed the lasagna was above average in its texture and taste. It had the right amount of cheese and was one of the better parts of my day (I'd been having a rough day at work). I can only speculate about the other items on the menu.

Although it's true that the pizza wasn't the best I've tasted, there's a certain charm to the pizzas at Café Trevi that cannot be denied. The presentation of the dishes was impeccable, and certainly it was not a wasted investment as far as my stomach was concerned.

On my way out of the restaurant, I was able to chat to the manager, an older man who seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the whole idea of customer service, making sure to relay some pertinent advice on the best way to get to the post office. I left well-fed and satisfied, with no complaints other than the reality that the food was a tad on the oily side.

Note: This is my own personal experience with this company, and not necessarily indicative of their general operations. You can choose to believe it or not believe it.I have not made a complaint to ACCC despite being entitled to act on their misleading and deceptive conduct because I don't think it's worth my time and the amounts of money involved are small.

I wanted my room and the hallway outside my room steam cleaned. I did a Google search and found CheapAsChips. After calling the number, the guy said it could be done for $66. They also advertise on the internet saying they can do 3 rooms for $66, so one room and a hallway seemed within that range.

When their man showed up, he asked me to help him carry his equipment into the house. I thought that was a bit unprofessional and rude, as I paid for a service not to help him. He also looked at the carpet and decided that it would have to be more expensive: $99 for a room and hallway. I replied that this was not what I had been quoted on the phone. He responded that the guy on the phone hadn't seen the state of the carpet which was apparently dirtier than normal.

Because I had already taken time out of my day to travel to my new rental house, and the guy had already showed up, I didn't want to reject him completely especially as I was moving in a few days into the new place. So I agreed if he could do one room for $70 that'd be fine.

However I am warning anyone else not to trust this company as they could have told me on the phone that their quote was not a genuine quote, but dependent on the state of the carpet. My carpet was probably only slightly more dirty than an average carpet (it was a bit old, that is true). I was not told about the quote being only indicative and not a genuine quote until the last minute. They should have informed me of all the details prior to me wasting time booking them.

And finally, the company's actual cleaning of the carpet was pretty average and a quick 10 minute job. It would've been nice for their man to vacuum the carpet before wetting it.

The main complaint I have is that some of the electronic items sold by Kogan.com.au are faulty or don't work well (e.g. poor video quality), and their after-sales support isn't great.

I bought a car dash camera from Kogan.com.au which has worked fine during the daytime (not very clear video quality at night). However sometimes the camera doesn't record anything at all except for audio. See for yourself. In addition, I've bought many other electronic items from that website (mostly spy technology) that turned out to be duds. In one case the item arrived damaged and I had to argue to get my money back and even had to email the boss at Kogan himself - Ruslan Kogan.

I only got the refund because I copied Kogan himself in my complaint email as I had met him previously for a coffee while soliciting donations for Liberty Australia.

So you're wondering how to pick a private lawyer. There are a lot of dodgy lawyers out there, with complete disregard for professional ethics and customer service. Here are some tips:

Ask for a referral from a community legal centre or from LegalAid to someone they trust. The lawyers that have close links with CLC's and LegalAid tend to be more genuine and responsive to clients, often having done community service in the past.

Look up the accredited specialists on the Law Institute of Victoria website. These lawyers have taken extra tests and exams that demonstrate their expertise in a particular area, e.g. criminal law.

Shop around, as prices vary. You can get a free 30 minute consultation using the Law Institute of Victoria referral service.

Once you've picked a lawyer, protect yourself:

Aim to get a fixed price type of deal, rather than having hourly rates. This will prevent the notorious problem of the lawyer inflating the amount of time spent so they earn more money. Make sure you check that each stage of work is completed properly and without mistakes and is actually necessary (use some common-sense, do your own research).

If you decide to ignore my advice and go with a lawyer that sends you bills that charge by the hour, don't tell them the maximum you are willing to pay because this could potentially encourage them to inflate the amount of work done in order to meet that target. For example, if a client tells a lawyer he is willing to pay up to $4500, the lawyer could spend time doing unnecessary billable research so as to get closer to the $4500 total. Insist on only essential work being done.

Don't pay them all the money upfront: stagger the payments. If they overcharge, you still possess your money until a court orders otherwise, rather than the lawyer having it.

Get the agreement in writing at an early stage and make sure it specifies what it covers.

Don't trust lawyers with your original documents, unless absolutely necessary. They often lose items. Also, lawyers are legally entitled to hold onto your file if you don't pay the bill. So that means if you receive a bill that is clearly excessive and overinflated (lawyers are able to charge exorbitant rates because their salaries are protected by government through the cartel that is the legal profession), they won't return your documents and you'll be placed in a difficult position.

Sometimes lawyers will email you a costs agreement and there will be a clause in fine print that says even if you haven't signed anything, by continuing to provide instructions you are assumed to have signed the agreement and that therefore they can bill you for their time. So make sure to read everything they send you thoroughly.

At the end of the day, you need to treat the lawyer as your assistant expert rather than blindly trusting what they're saying. Lawyers can be wrong and make mistakes. It's up to you to make good decisions, and make sure the lawyer prepares thoroughly for a hearing etc. No one has a stronger interest in the outcome of a case than you: to the lawyer you are just another client.

If you have a legal question, a good first resource is the North Fitzroy Legal Service Legal Handbook. I can also answer questions via email (pablosab3@gmail.com) about particular lawyers or processes to the best of my ability but do not take what I say to be legal advice and rely on it at your own risk.

I think LegalAid and Community Legal Centres are fairly competent. So if you can avoid having to fork out for a private lawyer, because the matter is simple, try a free resource first. Essentially a private lawyer will charge a lot of money for doing the same job. However there are instances when you'll need to go with a private lawyer because LegalAid funding isn't available.